Thank you, everyone, for the sweet reviews! They make me happy and I'm glad to hear you guys are enjoying this so far.

This chapter is a little shorter than the last one but I've already started working on the next one.

Enjoy!


When the sun began to stream through the window in Rachel's room the next morning, waking her up, she groaned and refused to open her eyes. It was Sunday morning and too early to care.

However, when she moved her foot and it collided with something under the sheets, her eyes flew open and she was met with the sight of a blonde-hair-everywhere, sleeping Quinn Fabray.

Rachel blinked several times as the previous night's events came slowly flooding back to her. Quinn showing up at her door, bruised and bloody. A long phone call to Santana. Listening to Quinn's horrifying story, and holding Quinn in her arms while the cheerleader cried her eyes out.

As she gazed at Quinn's sleeping form, Rachel exhaled a breath she didn't realize she had been holding. Her eyes swept over the purple bruise that stood out terrifically against Quinn's porcelain skin and Rachel felt crushed with sadness. She couldn't even begin to imagine the physical and emotional pain the blonde must have gone through the night before.

Quinn could be a raging bitch, yes – but when she was sleeping, she could pass for a princess. A stray strand of blonde hair had flopped onto her face and fluttered every time Quinn breathed out. The expression on her face was peaceful, untroubled, and serene.

Rachel quietly removed herself from the bed, careful not to wake Quinn, and walked into the bathroom, softly shutting the door behind her. She went through a muted version of her daily routine – brushing her teeth but skipping the floss. Washing her face and leaving it clean, instead of applying her usual amount of make-up. She threw her hair into a sloppy ponytail and, when she walked back into her room, found Quinn sitting up and yawning.

Quinn had stirred at the sound of the bathroom door closing. When her eyes were met with the harsh sunlight coming through the window, she had thrown her arms over her face to block it out only to cry out in pain when her hand hit the bruise beneath her eye. She sat up and experimentally touched the sore spot, immediately pulling her fingers away and hissing through her teeth when the bruise exploded with dull pain.

When Rachel emerged from the bathroom, Quinn's head snapped up and she couldn't bite back the smile that blossomed on her lips. Rachel was still in her sleep shorts and sweatshirt, and added to her loose ponytail; Quinn didn't think she'd ever seen her look quite so casual and relaxed.

Rachel, for her part, was having similar thoughts. As she took in Quinn's messy hair, drowsy smile, and make-up free face, she was stunned. She had seen Quinn with full-blown make-up, elegant hair, and wearing a prom dress but as Rachel looked at the girl sitting in the middle of her sheets, wearing a t-shirt and sweatpants, she realized that Quinn didn't need the hair, make-up, and dress. The blonde was naturally and effortlessly beautiful, and it momentarily took her breath away.

"Hi," Quinn said softly, unsure of what to expect from Rachel now that it was morning and she was no longer a crying wreck. She was relieved when the brunette simply smiled and joined her on the bed.

"Hi, yourself," Rachel replied. "Did you sleep okay?"

Quinn nodded, "I did, believe it or not. Did you?"

"I did, as well. Do you know what time we should expect Santana and Brittany?"

"No, I'll text San," Quinn sighed, reaching for her phone and plucking it off the table next to Rachel's bed. "Is it still alright for them to come over?"

"Of course."

Quinn narrowed her eyes and took in the way Rachel wouldn't make eye contact with her. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"Nothing!" Rachel forced herself to look into Quinn's eyes and sighed when she saw the concern in them, "Okay. If you must know, I'm a little nervous."

"About?"

Rachel looked down, embarrassed, and Quinn saw right through her.

"You're nervous about Santana and Brittany coming over."

"To some degree, that's part of it, yes," Rachel answered honestly. "It's not that I'm scared for my safety or anything like that; though granted, there was once I time I might have been. It's more just the fact that…well, I know that you and I are kind-of friends and Brittany has never been anything but sweet to me and even Santana's not that bad anymore, despite her always being slightly terrifying in general. I know you three are my teammates and also maybe to some extent my friends – but you're also Quinn and Santana and Brittany."

To anyone else, it might have sounded strange but Quinn completely understood Rachel's hesitance. She was very aware that her name held a double standard at William McKinley High School and that the students saw her in two different ways; soft-spoken Quinn Fabray who was in glee club and gave up her child, and Head Cheerio Quinn Fabray, the icy blonde that everyone looked at in fear.

She reached out and delicately placed her hand on top of Rachel's knee. "Look at me," she commanded. Rachel looked up and Quinn softened her voice as she said, "You have nothing to worry about. I was telling you the truth last night when I said that San is coming over here to thank you. Brittany would never hurt you and after this, Santana won't either." She took a deep breath, "And neither will I."

With that, Quinn released Rachel's hand and began to type out a text to Santana as Rachel slowly leaned back against her pillows and replayed Quinn's words in her head.

It was one thing to have the blonde show up at her door in the middle of the night. It was another to hold Quinn in her arms while the other girl broke down and sobbed. But it was an entirely different level of feelings to hear Quinn tell her that she would never hurt her again. Of course, Rachel had been aware for awhile that Quinn's feelings about her were changing. The blonde wasn't mean or cruel anymore, and instead of outright annoyance, she had begun to treat Rachel with the exasperated tolerance a person would treat a disobedient puppy with.

Still, Rachel was incredibly touched and it took a moment before she had control over her emotions again and could speak.

"Can I ask you a question?"

Quinn looked at Rachel and smiled, "Of course. San and Britts should be here in about an hour. Is that okay?"

"That's fine and actually gives me the perfect segue into my question." Rachel paused before saying, "I guess I'm just wondering what I should prepare myself for when they get here."

"Prepare yourself for?"

"Well, I can't imagine they're going to react well when they see…"

She trailed off, gesturing to Quinn's face with a sad smile, and Quinn realized what Rachel wasn't saying and what the girl was hinting at – that she was worried, not for herself but for Quinn, about how Santana and Brittany would react to seeing her injuries. It was her subtle way of telling Quinn that she should prepare herself for their reactions, and that could only mean one thing.

"How bad does it look?" she asked quietly. "Be honest."

"I…" Rachel hesitated, but forced herself to answer truthfully. "It doesn't look good, Quinn. I'm so sorry."

Quinn slowly crawled off the bed and walked into the bathroom, bracing herself before she looked into the mirror.

Immediately, she could see why Rachel was so concerned. She carefully removed the band aid from her forehead, needing to see all of the damage together. The marks on her neck had faded slightly, but were still visible. The gash on her forehead from hitting her mother's bed was bright red and about an inch long but it was still tame compared to the glaring, dark purple bruise under her eye.

"You could always cover it with make-up," Rachel's voice rang out from behind her as the brunette stepped into the bathroom and stood next to Quinn, looking into the mirror. "But honestly, I don't think you should right now. At school, yes. Or even later today. But not with Santana and Brittany."

Quinn bit her lip, knowing that Rachel was right. "Brittany's going to be upset," she said, unable to look at her reflection anymore and turning away from the mirror. "But San's the one who will cry and, I'm sorry to say this and I promise what I said earlier about her is still true, but she'll probably be slightly bitchier than usual because she hates crying in front of people."

Rachel honestly couldn't picture Santana crying but she could tell that Quinn was completely serious. So, she said, "I'll make sure Santana knows this as well, but I won't tell anyone anything about last night or today. If they ask, I'll tell my dads that you slept over and that Santana and Brittany were here this morning, but that's it. You can trust me, Quinn."

"I know I can. Thank you, Rachel."


Quinn sat at the table in the kitchen as she watched Rachel move around the room, fixing them both a cup of coffee.

"Shouldn't we wait for Santana and Brittany?" the brunette had asked but Quinn shook her head.

"No. San will be too upset to eat or drink anything, especially after she sees me. B doesn't like coffee. You could offer her hot chocolate if it makes you feel better, but she probably won't take it. She'll be too busy worrying about Santana worrying about me."

Rachel took two mugs out of the dishwasher and slowly poured the hot, brown liquid into them. She brought them over to the table, where she had already laid out sugar and milk. Taking a seat across from Quinn, she carefully slid one of the mugs in her direction.

"Thanks."

There was a pause in conversation as Rachel poured soy milk into her coffee, Quinn poured regular milk into hers, and they both put in a generous amount of sugar.

"You know," Rachel mused as she sat back in her chair, "I've tried since sixth grade to figure out the dynamic of your friendship with Santana and Brittany but I always find myself as a loss."

Quinn tilted her head to the side, "What do you mean?"

"Well, watching the three of you interact with one another is rather interesting. One might assume just by looking at you together that you're in charge but I get the feeling that's not always the case. Quite a few times I've watched Brittany put a stop to arguments between you and Santana and you two always listen to her. I've seen you and Santana fight viciously before but you also treat each other with very exasperated fondness. You're both so patient with Brittany, and then of course there's the romantic feelings shared between Santana and Brittany…it's all very perplexing and intriguing to watch."

Quinn grinned because paragraph!Rachel was growing on her. "It sounds like you've watched us a lot," she teased.

Rachel shrugged, "I have to do something when other people sing in glee."

Quinn laughed and Rachel bit back a smile. Quinn, in all her glacial beauty, so often held herself in a don't look at me, don't touch me, don't mess with me way but right in front of Rachel's eyes, the ice queen was melting.

The blonde took a sip of coffee and pondered Rachel's assessments of her friendship with Santana and Brittany. "You know most of us met in sixth grade," she said, indicating the kids in their grade who had all started middle school together and Rachel nodded. "But I met San and Britts in kindergarten. Santana and I clicked immediately and it didn't take long for us to pick up Brittany. It's always been as easy as breathing with them. You're right; a lot of the time, I think people automatically assume I'm in charge, and that's true to an extent. But Britts is our world. Santana and I will listen to her forever."

Rachel smiled as Quinn continued, "I love Santana so much it knocks the air out of my lungs but she's easily one of the most infuriating people I know. B has always said that San is fire and I'm ice, which is honestly kind of perfect if you think about it."

Rachel nodded in agreement, "Fire and ice. It's an incredibly simple yet scarily accurate description. What does that leave Brittany as in the equation?

"Earth," Quinn grinned, "because she keeps us grounded."

Rachel laughed at the pun and Quinn winked at her. Neither of them was oblivious to how easy it was to relax around each other like this but they didn't get time to dwell on it because at that moment, the doorbell rang.

"That'll be Santana and Brittany."

Rachel didn't miss the way Quinn's tone of voice changed. The blonde sounded almost nervous.

"Are you okay?" she asked, taking Quinn's hand and squeezing it.

Quinn squeezed back and nodded, "I'm okay. A little apprehensive but they're going to see me either way so it may as well be now."

They walked to the front door and Quinn looked back at Rachel, who gave her an encouraging and reassuring smile. Feeling comforted, she sucked in a deep breath and opened the door.


The night before…

After Santana hung up with Quinn, she had burst into tears. She hated crying, especially in front of Brittany because she knew it upset the blonde, but she couldn't hold back like she usually did.

"I knew I shouldn't have let her leave without us," she said miserably, wiping tears from her cheeks as more fell from her eyes. "I'm so stupid. Stupid, stupid, and selfish. Quinn doesn't fucking deserve this. She's taken so much shit from her dad and so much shit from the world and now this happens? It's so unfair. So fucking unfair."

Brittany had tugged Santana into her lap and held the brunette in her arms as she cried. She pressed a kiss to Santana's forehead as Santana said, "I can't stand it when she gets hurt, Britts."

"I know, San. I hate it, too. But Q's alive and okay and safe with Rachel."

"I know. But still, B. She's hurt and I can't do anything about it."

"You can, San. You can sleep because Quinn wants you to and you can be there for her tomorrow. She's okay and she'll be even better in the morning when we go see her. Rachel's taking care of her tonight."

"Yeah, speaking of, what the fuck? Q at Berry's house? I know they're trying to be friends or whatever now that Q has toned down her bitch-dial but still."

Brittany grinned at Santana. "I think Q and Rachel totally have the potential to be best friends if they try hard enough. They're kind of like us, you know. You and Rachel are both tiny and brunette and loud. Me and Q are tall, blonde, and quiet. But it works. We're all, like, two of a kind in pairs and four of a kind as a whole."

"I guess so," Santana said, slightly disgruntled about being paired off with Rachel but she smiled because Brittany was always almost scarily right and this was no exception. "Can you imagine if Q and Rachel ever got together? I think the world would implode."

Brittany beamed and pulled Santana into a sweet kiss.

"Just remember that I totally called it."


Brittany took one look at Quinn's face and wanted to cry. But she couldn't because Santana was already on edge and it would only make things worse. So instead, she threw herself into Quinn's arms as she said in a whirlwind of words, "I love you, Q. I love you so much and I'm so sorry this happened to you and I'm totally sure your face hurts but don't be sad because you still look like your normal super pretty self but now you also look like a total warrior princess. I'm so glad you're okay."

Quinn hugged Brittany tightly. "I love you too, B, and I'm sorry you were scared but you're right – now I'm a warrior princess and I promise I'm okay." She lowered her voice to a whisper that only Brittany could hear and said, "Is San okay?"

"Lightweight code red," Brittany whispered back. "She slept last night after you called but she hasn't touched food since yesterday. I tried to get her to eat but…"

Quinn pulled back and looked at the genuine distress swirling in Brittany's blue eyes "I'll fix it," she murmured, kissing the girl's cheek. She then released her and Brittany immediately flung herself at Rachel.

"Rachel!"

"Hello, Brittany," Rachel said, unable to stop herself from grinning as Brittany nearly picked her up in the enthusiasm of the hug. It was impossible not to smile when she was around the sweet, happy cheerleader.

Quinn was left to face Santana, who still stood outside on Rachel's front porch.

"Hi, S."

Santana finally looked up. The marks she saw were brutal and she felt sick as she studied her best friend's face.

"Can I touch your face, Q?"

Rachel untangled herself from Brittany. She and the taller girl watched as Quinn nodded her consent and Santana very gently ran her fingertips down the length of Quinn's bruised cheekbone.

Tears welled up in Santana's eyes as she imagined the unbearable pain Quinn must have gone through the night before and internally cursed herself – again – for letting Quinn leave the party alone.

Quinn, of course, immediately saw what Santana was doing. They had been friends for 10 years. "Stop it," she demanded.

"Stop what?"

"Blaming yourself. I'm a big girl, San. It was my choice to go home by myself and you couldn't have stopped me even if you tried."

"But–"

"No! You had Brittany and she's top priority. She always, always comes first. My dad still would have been at my house even if you had been there and I still would have run into him to protect my mom and he still would have hit me." The tears in Santana's eyes rained down on her cheeks and Quinn softened her voice as she said, "You can't protect me every second of the day, San. But look at me?"

Santana looked at her best friend.

"I'm alive. I'm breathing. Sure, I'm a little beat up but I'm here and I'm talking to you and I'm okay. And now, you're going to give me a hug because I know you're really just mad that Rachel got to cuddle me last night instead of you."

Santana laughed as she wiped away her tears and threw her arms around Quinn, who hugged her as tightly as she could.

"I know how scared you must have been last night and I'm sorry," Quinn murmured. "I love you."

"You're a bitch but I love you, too."

Rachel, who felt tears of her own stinging her eyes, glanced at Brittany. The tall blonde was watching her two best friends hug with a tremendous amount of affection shining in her sweet blue eyes. She turned to look at Rachel and smiled.

"Sorry we kind of momentarily took over, Rachel," she said. "Thanks for looking out for our bestie last night; it was really cool of you to take care of Q the way you did."

"Not a problem, Brittany."

"Yeah, speaking of," Santana said as she finally released her hold on Quinn. "Let's head inside, midget. You and I gots some serious talking to do, not to mention it's cold as shit and I'm still technically outside."

"Oh…" Rachel immediately looked nervous. "Um, in that case, please come in. Santana, you and I can go to the living room, which is down the hall and to the right. Brittany, the kitchen is directly ahead. I left out the fixings for hot chocolate."

"Yay, hot chocolate!"

"Sounds good, midge. I'll meet you on the couch after you say whatever you're about to say to my captain that you're clearly not going to say while me and Britts are here."

Rachel's jaw dropped open.

"How did you –"

"Bitch, please. You have I'm nervous about my kind-of friend's friends being here and now one of them wants to talk to me alone and what if she kills me written all over your tiny face. But don't worry, I promise no bloodshed."

Rachel's eyes bulged as Brittany intervened, "Stop it, San. You're scaring her. Go wait for Rachel in the living room. Rachel, I promise San will be nice because if she's not, she won't get any sweet lady sex later."

"Britts! Overshare!"

Rachel gaped at them, and Quinn face-palmed, groaning. These were her best friends.

"I'm serious, San. Don't be mean."

Santana threw her arms into the air. "Jesus! I won't! Ay dios mío. I'll be in the living room, Berry."

With that, she flounced down the hall and disappeared. Brittany turned to Quinn and Rachel and winked at them.

"She's so whipped," she said, grinning. "I know you two have to talk so I'll meet you in the kitchen, Q. Thanks for leaving out the hot chocolate, Rachel!"

Brittany skipped away and Rachel looked at Quinn.

"Did that really just happen?"

Quinn laughed, "Yep. Sorry, Rach. If you're going to be friends with me, you get the insanity that is Santana and Brittany, too – no, pause. Britts is perfect. San is the insane one. But you get what I'm saying."

Rachel laughed with her but Quinn's words touched her heart. "Does that mean we're friends, then?" she asked softly. "For real?"

Quinn smiled. "For real," she said, reaching out and affectionately tugging Rachel's ponytail. "Now, I know you're nervous about talking to San but don't be. I promise she won't be mean. Go hear her out and soon, you and her will be joining me and Britts in the kitchen. You'll see."

"Okay," Rachel took a deep breath. "Thank you, Quinn."

Quinn caught the look in Rachel's eyes.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Rachel said, shaking her head. "I just can't believe that I have the three most popular girls at school at my house. One of them is waiting for me in the living room, one of them is drinking hot chocolate in my kitchen, and one of them, who just made our friendship official, is smiling at me in the hallway."

Quinn pulled Rachel into a gentle hug and smiled as she whispered, "Get used to it."


I hope this is living up to everyone's expectations. I know it's not immediate Faberry but it will get the eventually, I promise. Slow and steady wins the race.

Reviews are always very appreciated. Thanks for reading!